The men's
marathon
The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of kilometres ( 26 mi 385 yd), usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There ...
event at the
1948 Summer Olympic Games
The 1948 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and officially branded as London 1948, were an international multi-sport event held from 29 July to 14 August 1948 in London, United Kingdom. Following a twelve-year hiatus cau ...
took place on August 7. Forty-one athletes from 21 nations competed.
[ The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The race was won by ]Delfo Cabrera
Delfo Cabrera Gómez (April 2, 1919 – August 2, 1981) was an Argentine athlete, winner of the marathon race at the 1948 Summer Olympics in one of the most dramatic finishes in athletics history.
Biography
Born in Armstrong, Santa Fe Pr ...
of Argentina, the nation's second victory in three Games (though the victories were 16 years apart).Dorando Pietri
Dorando Pietri (; often wrongly spelt Petri; 16 October 1885 – 7 February 1942) was an Italian long-distance runner. He finished first in the marathon at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London but was subsequently disqualified.
Biography Early ...
's final-lap ordeal when the Olympics were held in the same city 40 years earlier, Gailly entered the London stadium in first place, but was exhausted and running very slowly. He was passed first by Cabrera, then by Richards, but managed to hold on for the bronze medal. South African Johannes Coleman, who finished 4th in this race, had placed 6th in the last Olympic marathon in Berlin twelve years earlier.
Background
This was the 11th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Returning runners from the pre-war 1936 marathon included sixth-place finisher Johannes Coleman of South Africa. There was no clear favorite, though Viljo Heino
Viljo ("Ville") Akseli Heino (1 March 1914 in Iitti – 15 September 1998 in Tampere) was a Finnish athlete who held the world record for the 10,000 metres event from 25 August 1944 to 11 June 1949 and again from 1 September 1949 to 22 October ...
(world record holder in the 10,000 metres) "was considered someone to watch" as he made his marathon debut.
Competition format and course
As all Olympic marathons, the competition was a single race. The 1908 course (the first Olympic marathon at the now-standard marathon distance of 26 miles, 385 yards) was not used. Instead, a course was designed that "started and finished at Wembley Stadium, looping thru the London suburbs."[
]
Records
These were the standing world and Olympic records prior to the 1948 Summer Olympics.
No new world or Olympic bests were set during the competition.
Schedule
All times are British Summer Time
During British Summer Time (BST), civil time in the United Kingdom is advanced one hour forward of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), in effect changing the time zone from UTC+00:00 to UTC+01:00, so that mornings have one hour less daylight, and eve ...
(UTC+1)
Results
References
External links
*Organising Committee for the XIV Olympiad, The (1948)
The Official Report of the Organising Committee for the XIV Olympiad
''LA84 Foundation
The LA84 Foundation (known until June 2007 as the Amateur Athletic Foundation of Los Angeles) is a private, nonprofit institution created by the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee to manage Southern California's endowment from the 1984 Oly ...
''. Retrieved 7 September 2016.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Athletics at the 1948 Summer Olympics - Men's marathon
Athletics at the 1948 Summer Olympics
Marathons at the Olympics
Men's marathons
Oly
Men's events at the 1948 Summer Olympics